Shourai
by Allekha
Summary: (Zenryaku Yuri no Sono Yori/Notes From the Garden of Lilies) Misono/Yuri. This is the future they make together, in books and drawings and university courses.


A/N: Written for rubylily for Parallels 2014. Please note that this story contains some homophobia.

将来 (しょうらい _shourai_ ): (near) future

* * *

The argument always starts like this:

Yuri wants to be a manga artist. She doesn't need to go to college for that. She could go to art school, or take up an apprenticeship, or simply keep working and hope a publisher picks her and Shinobu up.

Her parents want her to go to _real_ school so she can get a _real_ job.

"Even if I don't get a publisher, I could still do graphic design or something!"

"And what if that doesn't work out? Are you going to rely on your husband's income if you can't get a job? Or work as clerk your entire life?"

Her mother stands off to the side, watching quietly. She hasn't brought herself into this round of argument, not yet.

"Of course no- who said anything about marrying?!"

Her parents blink at her in shock.

"I'm still in high school, geez! Give me some time! Anyway, our last story won that contest, so it's not like my chances are that low."

She and her father don't-quite-yell at each other back and forth for a while, before her mother sighs and puts a hand on her father's shoulder. "Dear," she says. "I want her to go to university, too, but Yuri is allowed to make her own decisions."

"What was the point of sending her to that school if she isn't going to go to a good university?"

It goes in circles from there.

Yuri talks to Misono about it, once or twice. "I'm jealous," she giggles, delicately covering her mouth with her hand.

"Eh?"

"My parents have already decided which school I will attend. All I need to do is pass the exam."

"And you'll do fine." Yuri sighs and flops back, shielding her head from the concrete roof with her arms. "I like school okay, but not _that_ much, but I don't want to become an OL or something, you know? I'd be bored out of my skull!"

"Of course you won't," Misono says. "I can't allow my future wife to do such menial work."

Yuri's brain trips on that line and takes several seconds to process it. "Wait, _what_? _Wife?_ "

Misono moves closer, lowering her eyelids. "Perhaps not legally, but moving in to the same apartment together, you working at home and making dinner while I run the family business during the day... isn't that like a marriage?"

Yuri turns bright red. Well, when their shared little dream is put like _that_...

In the end, Yuri is stubborn and draws more than she studies and her parents give in on the issue: if she can make her way with illustration, they won't try to force her to go to university. The school guidance counselor is still very concerned about her, but Yuri couldn't care less about _him_.

~!~

For their first real date, they go to a bookstore. Misono is immediately taken in by the shelves and shelves of books, even more organized than her family's library, and covering even more subjects. Bright and colorful children's books, historical novels with covers like old paintings, serious books on economics with straightforward titles. When she comes down off the excitement, she goes to find Yuri again.

Unsurprisingly, she's browsing the newest manga releases. Misono creeps up behind her and whispers in her ear: "Your art is so much better than _that_."

She smiles to see her girlfriend jump. "Don't scare me like that!" she snaps, and then looks down at the book she's holding. "...do you really think so?"

They can't open the book up, all wrapped in plastic, but they look through the sample booklet together. "I like how you draw faces," Misono murmurs. She wants to tuck her head even closer to Yuri's, but they _are_ in public. "The way this person draws eyes looks strange, and look at their hands."

Yuri makes an 'mm' sound that means she's taking mental notes as she looks over the sample pages. She's tried to explain about panel arrangement and movement before, but Misono thinks that she doesn't understand them the same way that Yuri does, intuitive rather than academic. A comic page looks like a comic page, to her.

The next bookstore they go to is a second-hand book-comic-game store. The shelves here are closer together, and it's louder, but they still have fun pulling down the books and flicking through their yellowing pages. Misono picks the ones with the raunchiest covers – usually ones depicting girls with large chests and not very much clothing, but sometimes ones with two boys and handcuffs and so on – not because she is interested in them, per se, but because she likes watching the flush creep across Yuri's face. And ears. And neck. She wonders how low it will go.

They end up buying a good stack of books – both manga and regular books. The manga is only 100 yen a volume, and the books aren't much either, so they have plenty of spending money left for dinner.

~!~

As senior year winds down, Misono's parents push for her to study more, and so Yuri doesn't get to see as much of her. They walk to and from school together, at least, and spend their lunches on the roof if it's nice enough out. Late at night, her phone will usually ding as Misono gets bored of studying. But it's not the same.

At least Shinobu still has some free time left. She's studying for entrance exams – she'll study literature at school – but when she wants a break, she's right next door. They spend time together like they used to, before Yuri met Misono, curling up on each other's rugs every night to talk about their stories.

One of the late nights, curled up around her pillow, eyes stuck firmly to her phone, Yuri texts Misono: _I want to tell my parents about us_.

It is so long before the reply comes that Yuri is half-asleep when her phone vibrates. _Is that a good idea?_

 _Being gay isn't any worse than other things I've done. Besides, they're kinda open-minded... I think._

 _I hope that they react well_.

 _Will you be there with me?_

Misono doesn't reply, this time. But after school the next day, she comes all the way to Yuri's house. She's not teasing or infuriating like she usually is, but her calm, cheerful ojou-face is on in full force.

Yuri's mother is in the kitchen, reading a magazine as she waits for the electric kettle to boil. "I'm home," Yuri announces. Her voice sounds too loud.

"Welcome home." She smiles at them and nods at Misono. "Are you going to study together? Finals are coming up soon, aren't they?"

"Um." Yuri _had_ words for this, but they seem to have all fled her mind. "I – that is-"

Her mother tilts her head, patient. She can _hear_ Misono's smile at her fluster.

So she handles it with her usual delicacy: she grabs Misono's hand and practically shouts: "We're dating!"

It's quiet. Her mother's smile falls a little and sits, frozen, on her face. She looks at Yuri, then at Misono, and then at their hands, where Misono is slowly twining them together properly. "Oh," she says, as the kettle beeps. She clears her throat and stands to make the tea. "I, well." She turns back to them once the tea is steeping. Yuri squares up her shoulders, holding Misono's hand tighter. Her heart is pounding hard, not the good way like the first time they kissed. "It's – not very usual, but... well, Yuri's never been usual, has she?" She smiles, a little, but it's real. "If you're happy together, then congratulations."

They look at each other. "Yeah, she makes me happy," Yuri says, letting her hand relax (and giving Misono her blood flow back).

"Yuri is always kind and considerate to me," Misono says in her ojou-voice.

Later, when Misono has gone home and Yuri's father has come back, she has a _talk_ with her parents. It's not _great_ , but it could be so much worse, and they seem more concerned about her well-being than anything. They _like_ It's hard being different, her parents say.

But when hasn't she been different? She can't do polite very easily, she definitely doesn't do gentle, and she can barely pull off cute. She wants to be a manga artist. She could still beat up any boy or girl that attempted to tease her. So what's one more thing?

~!~

Misono gets into her parents' chosen university, of course. They rent an apartment for her relatively nearby. "Oh, this looks perfect for myself and a roommate," Misono says when she sees it. The view from the balcony isn't all that pretty, but the kitchen area is nicely arranged and there's plenty of space for two people and some bookshelves.

"Roommate?" her parents say.

"My friend Yuri," she says. "The one who invited me over to her house before?"

Their eyes light up a little, but they still insist on meeting her before she moves in with her. So Misono invites her over for dinner. It's important that she makes a good impression on Misono's parents, but it's no use just _telling_ her that; it will just make her even more tense.

Yuri arrives with her hair combed into something resembling order, wearing a nice blouse and ironed slacks. "Thank you very much for having me," she says to Misono's mother. "I'm sorry to impose," she says as she takes her shoes off and lines them up neatly, even though at her house she just kicks them off half the time.

Misono wishes her parents wouldn't ask so many questions as dinner is served, but it can't be helped. "Are you going to the same university, then?" her father asks.

"Actually, I'm not going to university," she replies. "But this year, I'll be working part-time. And I'm an artist, and lately I've been able to start selling some of my illustrations."

Oh, yes, her _illustrations_. Misono remembers the last one-shot she drew, a pretty yuri story. Yuri had insisted that the two girls, one black-haired and one blonde, looked nothing like the two of them, but Misono had proved her wrong by pushing her down to the bed and kissing her just like the girl in the story.

Her mother asks about Yuri's art for a bit, and then, thankfully, they move on to other subjects. Yuri's shoulders are all tensed up, and she's not holding her fork in the same delicate manner she was at the beginning of dinner.

Afterward her parents let them be for a while, and as soon as Misono closes the door to her room, Yuri shoves her up against it and presses their lips together. A few minutes later, this becomes uncomfortable, so they relocate to the bed. Misono has never had someone to curl up against her back before. It's very warm.

"So. How'd I do?" Yuri asks. Her lips are very close to Misono's neck, and she can feel her speak the words.

"Hm... I'd say, seventy-eight percent."

" _Seventy-eight_?" Yuri pushes herself up and glares down at Misono. "Only that much?"

"Five points off for not wearing a skirt, ten points off for not going to university-" Before she can finish Yuri flops down across her and distracts her with another long kiss, until they hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

In the end, her parents do approve. "She seems very nice," her mother says.

"I don't know about her career prospects," sighs her father. "But she's trying hard, if nothing else."

~!~

Yuri's daily schedule looks something like this: she gets up at a reasonable time – nine or ten, most days – and watches the news as she readies for the day and prepares her breakfast. Lunch for Misono was mostly prepared the night before, except for the packets of rice frozen in the freezer, and that will be gone. If she has a story to work on, she draws for that, and otherwise she spends some time on drawing exercises. If they need groceries she goes shopping in the early afternoon, and otherwise she usually reads for a while, doing research, or draws some more, unless she has work. She starts dinner around five or six, depending on when Misono's classes get out.

They always eat dinner together, although sometimes Misono insists on trying to feed her – it's _not_ romantic, no matter what she says, but somehow she tends to get her way. After Misono is finished with her homework, boring things like economics and business administration, they watch a movie together, or go for a walk, or something. And at the end of the day, they crawl into their bed together.

On weekends, she usually works most of one day, and Misono meets her afterward to go out to dinner. It's never anything fancy, but it's nice to eat a meal she didn't have to cook. If the weather is good they often go for a walk through the park, afterward. Nobody is ever around at night, so they hold hands, and only let them slip away when they approach their apartment building.

The other day – she will draw for hours, and Misono will lean over her shoulder and critique her faces or poses or lines until Yuri gets mad and yells at her. She would feel bad for this, but it only makes Misono laugh. She meets with Shinobu to go over their story again and Misono will pin her up against the counter or couch or table, later, acting jealous.

At the start of Misono's second year, Yuri and Shinobu score their first serial publication. Yuri is so dizzy with happiness that she barely waits for the door to close behind Misono before dragging her to bed to celebrate, only remembering to tell her afterward.

It's a historical piece, set in the Edo period, and she spends a week studying old architecture and how kimono move before she starts drawing. She barely has time to spare for Misono before the first deadline, so after their weekly dinner out, Misono gives her an evening so frustrating that she is begging by the end of it.

"Things seem to be working out quite well," her mother says when they visit home that summer after asking Misono about her studies (straight A's, top of her class, of course). That night when they watch a movie together, Misono puts her head in Yuri's lap like she always does and her parents don't bat an eye.

Yuri worries, a little, once in a great while, what will happen when Misono's parents find out, because they have to figure things out _sometime_. ...well, whatever happens, she won't let anyone try to break them up, not ever, no matter what gossip will go around.

~!~

Misono's parents start hinting that she should get married even before she graduates. They already have potential matches lined up, the sons of other large companies. As she enters her third year, her mother tells her, "You should start looking now, so you have time to find a good match."

So, naturally, she doesn't schedule a single meeting.

Her excuses wear thin after six months; for a couple of days she turns her phone off so she won't get the calls and instead lets Yuri bounce ideas and thumbnail sketches off her in-between writing essays.

"I'm sorry, I was incredibly busy with homework and papers," she says when she gets another call less than ten minutes after she turns her phone on again. Yuri glances up from her sketches. When her mother turns the subject back onto marriage meetings, she puts on her best face – it will carry through her voice – and says, "Mother, actually, I have a confession to make. I've already been seeing someone."

"Oh?" Mother says. "You should have told us!"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure it was serious, first. But I could introduce you next weekend, if that would be alright."

When she hangs up, Yuri's eyebrows are very high on her forehead. "Do you think you can behave properly for the weekend?" Misono asks lightly. "My parents won't let me marry anyone who isn't suitable."

"I'll try to speak properly," Yuri says, rolling her eyes. "No promises."

"Hmph."

She is tired of doing homework. She picks up a novel – a very badly-written one from their last trip to the used book-comic-game store – and starts reading it aloud, tearing apart the bad writing and characterization and plot for Yuri's pleasure. She misses discussing books with her parents, but this kind of thing is almost as much fun, if she does it with Yuri, who never hesitates to disagree with her opinions.

Saturday morning, they dress up, and Misono spends a few extra minutes on her makeup. They take the train home and Yuri dozes on her shoulder for most of the way. They walk to Misono's house, and her heart beats like it usually does.

She knocks on the door, Yuri behind her, a hand on her back. Her mother opens it. "I'm home," Misono announces. Her mother peers around, obviously confused at only seeing Yuri there with her.

Misono takes a deep breath and steps inside.

It doesn't go well.

They refuse to accept what the two of them present. By the third time Misono is trying to explain that yes, Yuri is her _girlfriend_ and yes, she's serious, and yes, it's been several years now, Yuri, who has been letting Misono try to talk it out, loses her temper. "Look, we mean girlfriends like _lovers_ and we've been dating for over three years already, so stop playing stupid." She glares at Misono's parents, reaching over to grasp Misono's shoulder. "And she's really important to me, and I want to make a future with her. So either accept us, or don't, but don't go around ignoring our relationship!"

Misono slowly moves her hand up to cover Yuri's. Her parents are gaping. She wonders if anyone has ever been so rude to them before.

"I'm sorry that it's troublesome," she says. "But I do love her." The color of her hair, how soft it always is. The way she blushes. Her taste in literature. Her single-minded focus when she's working on her art. All of it.

As she expected, they choose not to accept it. But they don't disown her over it, either, not their single daughter who will inherit the company. The atmosphere is still tense when they finally leave. Misono can only hope that someday they will come around; she isn't sure they ever will.

But maybe that will be okay. Yuri is hers, after all.

When they get back to their own apartment, Yuri sits down on the couch and flops back with a sigh. "Ugh, I'm so glad my parents aren't your parents."

Misono plops down in her lap. "Still, you didn't need to be quite so rude to my parents." She grins, lets it expand slowly. "I'll have to punish you, now."

Yuri shouldn't smile so much at that. "Oh~?"

Misono pins her wrists and starts the punishment.

~!~

Misono graduates with perfect grades – of course she does. Her parents are there at the graduate, and so is Yuri, though they try to ignore each other.

Yuri goes home alone to work on a cake as a graduation gift; Misono has an evening out with her parents. She already has a job secured at the family company. Her parents have given up on the issue of marriage, for now, but she expects they will start up again in a few years.

Yuri is better at cooking than baking, but the cake (vanilla, with dark chocolate frosting) is delicious, and the experience of eating it is far better than eating at the restaurant. Yuri finishes first and watches her eat, a soft smile that she doesn't wear very often on her face.

The manga is doing well. She and Shinobu sold a decent amount of doujin manga and novels over the winter. They're already starting to worry about summer deadlines.

They haven't agreed on the location of their next apartment, yet, or the price range, or, well, anything. Yuri's house is close enough; they might live there, for a while, as Misono settles in to her new job. Her father has specifically mentioned several times that she must _not_ become known as a lesbian, as if it weren't common sense.

"At some point I'll get to travel on business trips," Misono mentions, already thinking about the making of her career. "We do business in America. We could get married there, if we wanted." They won't, but it's a nice thought.

Yuri snorts. "Are you trying to be an idiot?"

"I'm sorry?"

Yuri leans over and presses their lips together for a brief moment. Instead of pulling away, she rests her forehead against Misono's. "We're as good as married already, aren't we?"

Misono casts a glance around the room – the sink full of their dishes, the mismatched pillows on the couch, the scattered pencils and papers on Yuri's ink-stained desk, the overflowing bookshelves with the novels they've bought. "You're right," she says, smiling.

Yuri drops her head against her shoulder, sighing happily.

"But I wanted to see you in a white dress," she says above Yuri's head.

"...huh?"

"A beautiful white wedding dress, covered in embroidery and lace..."

"It's not like I'd wear that kind of thing even if we had a ceremony!" Yuri snaps, sitting up. "Those things are way too expensive, especially if you're only going to wear it once!"

"You could wear the suit, then!"

"It's not like one of us has to –"

"Or we could wear traditional clothes, that might be fun."

Sighing, Yuri gives up, lowering her head to Misono's shoulder again. "Oh, whatever."

"So you'll let me plan it, then?"

"...yeah, go ahead."

Misono smiles, leans her head against Yuri's, and closes her eyes.


End file.
